***WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS 2011***

Friends, Romans, etc., etc…

Thank you all for your patience! We really tried to make our original quarterfinalist announcement date last week, but we were delayed due to reshoots on our film “Liberator” as well as the Without a Box-mandated final extension that chopped two weeks off our reading period. But enough excuses. Here are the numbers: we had a bit over 1100 entries this year (including folks who entered the contest by submitting their scripts to Coverage Ink for analysis. And for the record, we were not easier on the CI people–in fact, the percentage of CI submissions who made the QFs is actually a bit lower than folks who entered the contest directly.) To qualify for the quarterfinals, your script needed to score a ‘consider with reservations’ for ‘script.’ Scripts are rated from ‘pass’ to ‘recommend’ for both writer and script. ‘Consider with reservations’ or better for script is historically about 10% of submissions. We actually selected 142 quarterfinalists.

One of you guys is going to walk away from this shindig with 10,000 bucks and and pretty nice level of access. Awesome! But regardless of anything, all you folks on this list really brought it. You guys on here did the heavy lifting; you labored over your craft. And it shows. Congratulations for making the Writers on the Storm 2011 quarterfinalist list!

Now I know the vast majority of you folks reading this are not on this list. This sucks. No two ways about it. It’s another damn “pass.” It’s frustrating. It takes the wind out of our sails. It gets us a little bit angry. Those passes add up and eventually start undermining your self-confidence and can even make you want to throw in the towel. Believe me, brothers and sisters, I have been there.

The first thing I would tell you is: we are not the be-all and end-all here. Whether you’re on this list or not is because of one person’s opinion. Now of course all our guys know their stuff and are pro writers and analysts, but still, we could be wrong. Also remember that the difference between a pass and a consider can sometimes be insanely minor–a couple-hour rewrite to fix. Usually the problem is something we’re not even aware of, but then someone points it out and we go, “Oh, jeez, of course!” (Remember, all WOTS contestants get $10 off any submission to Coverage Ink for analysis until 12/31/11–just use code WOTS10 on the order form. We’ll gladly give you the full skinny and empower your rewrite.)

Look, even if your script needs major surgery, that’s okay. My last action script got “passes” right up until the 13th draft or so. It was the 17th draft that was finally deemed good to go, and because of it now I am developing several projects with two big-name producers. Believe me, those drafts were PAINFUL. But I did ’em anyway, cursing the readers and the producers (kept to myself, of course) every damn step of the way. Writing ain’t easy and getting it Good to Go ain’t quick, much though we always delude ourselves that it will be.

What matters here is, are you willing to do everything you can to improve your craft, to make your script as good as it can be? 17 drafts, guys. Steel yourself, accept and embrace the process and you will ascend.

Feedback forms will start going out on or around October 5th. Semifinalists (top 50) will be announced 10/10.

If you’re at the Screenwriting Expo this weekend, please check out our seminars: Liberator: A Crowdfunding Success on how we (partially) used crowdfunding to make our film LIBERATOR, Sunday morning from 9 to 10:30; and Agent’s Hot Sheet – Live! featuring me interviewing 5-7 top literary agents and managers on how the hell we can get their attention (Sunday 11 AM – 12:30 AM.) Stop by and introduce yourself.

Once again, thanks everyone for your hard work and patience as well as your committment to your craft. I’m pulling for every one of you.

Jim Cirile

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WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS 2011

33 Yarrows Way by Christopher Morrison
A Grand Life by Charlene Keeler
A Little Trouble in the Big Easy by Samuel C. Spitale
A Murder of Crows by Dorian Hess
A Series of Accidents by Adam Bloom
A Ship Through Fire by John Miller
A Simple Bridge by C.M. Robinson
A Thin Layer of Cheap Paint by M. Esther Sherman
Abomination by Ross Raffin
Am by C.N. Bean
Anatomy of a Town by Patricia  Fox
ARK by Darryl Anka
Atom and Eve by Hank Isaac
Avenging Blood by John Collins
Balloons by Nikki Braendlin
Bioterror Conspiracy by Louis C. Lio, M.D.
Blesse (Wounded) by Bob Canning
Brainwave by Conor Ryan
Bring Me Back by Alexis Lane
Bush League by Steven Shank
Caprivi by Peter Dewhirst
Captive by John Burch
Chuck Hodges Conquers the Universe by David Ball
Citizen Soldier by William Schreiber
Closer Than Love by Morris Clark and Rhonda Ermel
Convergence Zone by Glenn Gebauer
Crusade by Kristen M. Mozaffari
Custody by Lisa Redlich
Dark Complex by Mike Donald
Dead By Thursday by Anthony DellaFlora
Dead Walker by Josh Flanagan
Death Wind by Travis Heermann
Deceit by Naomi Lamont
Delirium Amour by Kevin Silva
Dirty Business by Haik Hakobian
Dust Devil by Mark Bankins
Eidolon 88 by James Edwards
Entangoed by Cecelie Berry
Erin’s Voice by Greg Sullivan
Fairy Godmother – The Quantum Leap by Lee Tidball
Faithful by Dennis Luu
False Sense by Craig Cambria
Finding Room by Johnny B. Dunn and Georgia K. Vinson
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Furious Angels by Nathan Ruegger
Getaway, Inc. by Andy Maycock
Golden Hour by Norman Wexler
Hair of the Dog by Karen Lawler
Halfway Home by David Schroeder
Happy Trails by Michael Rhodes
Hate Storm by Dale R. Botten
Haunted by Darryl Anka
Haven by Bryan “Byron Scot” Hilbert
Heart of the Family by Sharon Duncan
Heavy Water [2H2O] by CJ Percy
Hill of Souls by Jennifer Hahn
Hold the Reins by Tracee Beebe
Hollow by Jeffrey J. Wagner
Hoop by Dianne Dempsey
Hot Beef and Son by John Conley and Teddy Lane, Jr.
If You Die In Two Rivers by Mark Roach
Imprinted by Alison McMahan
Inked by Fernando Gaviria
Insatiable by Michael D. Morra
Invasive Species by Patricia Semler and J. Russell Prine
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
Khamseen: The Killer Wind by Allan Ashby
Lame: A Romance in Three Wheelchairs by James Kahn
Last Man on Earth by Brian Pracht
Love in the Time of Zombies by Devi Snively and Circus-Szalewski
Lulu by Samuel Bernstein
Male-Order Bride by Charles Mitri
Man from the Moon by Kyle Wilmott
Marlowe by Louise Ransil
Mend by David Chester
Messenger by Tim Tyler
Misfortune Cookie by Amanda Darling
Muffled Screams by David Kaneen
Murdered by Dennis Luu
Night Watch by David Taylor
Nothing But Besties by Matt Ryan
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Paige and Hadley’s Prom From Hell by Devi Snively and Circus-Szalewski
Paladin by Jared Kennedy
Passing Through by Jennifer Ward
Passing Through by Robert G. Rhyne
Private Storage by Jared Kennedy
Prom Night Abductions by Curt Burdick and Scott Burdick
Rage by Mike Davidson
Redemption by Robert S. Horvath
Requited by Bill Johnston
Roachtown by Cillian Daly
Rock Daddy by Chad Pennington
Run by Dennis Luu
Second Glance by Sue Morris
Shed by Dennis Widmeyer and Kevin Kolsch
Shiftress by Jonathan Edward Young
Silence by John Edward Flynt
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Snake Hill by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold and Sandra Longo 
Some Other Gods by Jay Korn
Spoiled Rotten by Cynthia Sieber
Sporks by Richard Dane Scott
Spy Stuff by Kay Weibel
Student Council by Tony Cohen
Superawesome Superheroes by Noelle Stehman and Betsy Van Stone
Survived By… by Ruth Simerly
The Beekeeper by Sean J.S. Jourdan
The Beneath by T.J. Cimfel
The Book of Malachy by Colin Elves
The Boy on the Cover by Elizabeth Savage Sullivan
The Crossing Order by Dalisia Mendoza
The Dorchester Plan by Patricia Semler
The Hartford Senators by Rick Telesca
The Heckler by Jery B. Rowan
The Intake by Rich Sheehy
The Journey by Josh Flanagan
The Legend of Hohokam by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold and Sandra Longo
The Man Who Stops Time by Paul Sargia
The Nativity Knockoff by Jason Hellerman
The Needle’s Eye by Kathryn S. Moller
The Northlander by David Humphrey
The Piper by Russ Meyer
The Plush Life by Bill Scollon
The Power of the Chasm by Elisabeth Loesch
The Project by Elizabeth Franklin
The Reality Principle by David  Sartof
The Sharecropper by Andrew J. Crane
The Spider’s Web by Valerie Nordstrom
The Steps by Sybil Raney
The Swords of Nishimura by Gordon Milburn
The Ticking Jury by Mike Donald
The Touch by Naomi Lamont
The Wall by Jon Bachmann and Katherine Griffin
The Warriors of Westgate by Michael R. Harriel
The White Death by James Poirier
The Wind At Spanish Needle by Simon Nagel
Third by Sean McKee
Thirty By 30 by Scotty J. Pierce and Tom W. Metz III
Tick, Tick, BOOM by Don Perez
Triumph by John Winn Miller
Web of Deception by Elizabeth Franklin
Wright or Wrong by Glenn Sanders and Brooks Elms
Zombie Lesbian Sluts by Lesley Schroeder